


A Good Day

by AlwaysAmused



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Kravitz is so awkward I love him, M/M, Magic Lessons, Merle eats dirt, Other, Taako needs a good day, Taako's kinda mean to Angus but what else is new, minimal angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-26 02:16:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16672858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysAmused/pseuds/AlwaysAmused
Summary: It takes Taako a little while after he wakes up—sore from training, but less-so than usual—to realize it’s a Good Day. He’s in the middle of a bath, reading some tabloid magazine he nicked from someone’s mail, and halfway through an article about Fantasy Kardashians, he notices there’s no buzzing in the back of his head, no heaviness weighing down on him from all sides.Takes place after Eleventh Hour and the Kravitz Date.





	A Good Day

**Author's Note:**

> Idk where this came from! And you can blame the Taz Fic Writers for the "Merle Highchurch eats dirt" thing. It was too hilarious to not add in.

It takes Taako a little while after he wakes up—sore from training, but less-so than usual—to realize it’s a Good Day. He’s in the middle of a bath, reading some tabloid magazine he nicked from someone’s mail, and halfway through an article about Fantasy Kardashians, he notices there’s no buzzing in the back of his head, no heaviness weighing down on him from all sides. He’s in a bath with a pretty dope bathbomb that belongs to Magnus, and a glance out the window tells him that it’s going to be a beautiful day.

Merle and Magnus have gone out to do their various Magnus and Merle things, but that’s not terribly unusual. Taako finishes the magazine, soaks in the tub for another half-hour, then pulls the drain and moves to his room. As he looks through his closet, he decides he’s going to try to make the most of his day. He wears bangles and purple high-waisted shorts and a yellow flowy shirt; he doesn’t even have plans yet, but hey, his makeup and hair are on point.

He moves to the kitchen to make breakfast for himself, feeling almost giddy when he remembers he can use magic in the kitchen again. There’s no one to put a show on for, but Taako talks to the room at large as he makes pancakes. He changes peaches into eggs and eggs into maple syrup, just because he can. He snaps his fingers and the butter becomes salted, the raspberries Magnus bought turn into blueberries. There’s pancake mix in the pantry, and he turns it into pure flour. He mixes everything together by hand, folding in the blueberries gently, using mage hand to take out a pan and start making some bacon. (He ends up not using the maple syrup, turning it back into eggs before taking the extra blueberries and turning them into a tangy-sweet syrup to use instead.)

It’s the best breakfast he’s had in ages—and _duh_ , he made it, so of course it is—but there’s something that bothers him about eating alone at the table. He knows Magnus and Merle won’t be back until later, so they can’t enjoy this frankly beautifully crafted meal. He always makes enough for a couple of people at least because 1) halving a recipe is a bitch when you can’t do division, 2) recipes generally assume you’re feeding more than yourself, and 3) leftovers are generally awesome, so he doesn’t usually mind.

After a little contemplation—but not too much as to let the food grow cold—Taako takes out his stone and calls Kravitz. His makeup, again, is on point; it would be a shame if no one got to see it but the mirror.

“‘Ello, this is Kravitz, loyal servant of the Raven Queen,” comes the work-accent, and Taako can’t help but snort.

“Hey Bones, nice accent. You busy?” Taako asks, resting his chin on his free hand.

“Oh! Hey,” Kravitz’s accent drops when he realizes who it is. “Um, a little bit?” Kravitz sounds intrigued, the lilt in his voice inviting Taako to convince him otherwise.

“You got time for breakfast?”

Kravitz’s voice is a breath of laughter, “I don’t really need to eat, and it’s almost noon-”

Taako interrupts him quickly, “ _Listen_ babe, I made too many pancakes, and they’re best eaten fresh, and the other two compadres aren’t around to finish them. What’cha think? Interested?” He pauses before adding, in as tantalizing a voice he can, “They’re _blueberry_. And there’s bacon and some fresh-pressed Oh-Jay too.”

He almost holds his breath as Kravitz considers for a split moment, then smiles when Kravitz says, “That sounds wonderful, Taako. I’ll be there in a moment.”

“Sounds good, see ya soon.” Taako hangs up and puts his stone away in his pocket. His smile hasn’t gone yet, and it doesn’t leave as he gets up to grab Kravitz a plate and some utensils. He does tone it down a little when he hears the telltale rip of reality’s fabric behind him a few moments later. There’s no need to let Kravitz know how happy he is to see him; he plays it off as casually as he can but can’t stop the little smile that pops up when Kravitz apologizes for being tardy.

“‘Tardy’?” Taako says, lifting an eyebrow. “I think I got off the stone with you like five seconds ago.”

Kravitz smiles and sits, thanking him for the invitation.

Taako waves a hand. “Pfft, don’t mention it. Just tell me what you think.” He watches Kravitz as subtly as he can, drinking some orange juice. Kravitz places a napkin in his lap, serves himself a couple of pancakes, pours just a little bit of the blueberry syrup, and cuts himself a bite with the side of his fork.

Kravitz’s expression is one Taako has missed over the years of not cooking for others. It’s the one he enjoyed when he made the macarons for Candlenights, the one people always make when they eat his cooking. There’s the initial taste, the widening of eyes. The look of disbelief that something could be that delicious. Sometimes people close their eyes as they finish the rest of the bite. Sometimes people smile or exclaim after they swallow. Taako drinks up the praise; it’s what he lives for.

Kravitz’s eyes widen and he looks at Taako. “Oh my Queen, Taako, this is amazing!” He says, still chewing like a complete dork. Taako smiles then, as smoothly as he can without beaming.

“Of course it’s amazing, I made it,” Taako says, pressing a hand to his chest before picking up his own fork again, hiding his joy by eating. Kravitz savors the meal, complimenting everything he can about it until Taako feels like he’s absolutely glowing.

When the meal ends, Kravitz wipes his mouth. “That was delicious,” he says. “Thank you for inviting me over. I’d love to stay longer, but I have to get back to work.”

“Yeah, I figured,” Taako says. “Have fun and all that, see you later.”

Kravitz smiles and Taako wonders if he should stand. But then, Kravitz lifts a hand in farewell. “See you, Taako.” He rips a portal into the air and steps through. A moment later he comes back, eyes wide, and says, “Do you want me to help with dishes or something? I should have asked before I left-”

Taako tries not to laugh as Kravitz stumbles over his own words, and says, “Dude, don’t stress it. I’ll just,” he casts Prestidigitation on their dishes, “and put them in the sink. Magnus’ll probably do them later or something.”

“Oh,” Kravitz looks a little embarrassed, both hands on his scythe, grinning like a fool. “Neat.”

“Thanks for asking though,” Taako says. “That was nice of you. Bye now.”

“Right, thanks. I mean you’re welcome! Bye Taako.”

Kravitz leaves again, and the moment the portal has closed, Taako snickers. He rolls his eyes a little, then casts Mage Hand to put the dishes in the sink. Magnus always inevitably cleans the common area. “It’s a little weird,” Taako says aloud, “but it’s none of my business. He likes cleaning anywhere other than is room, all the better for me.”

Taako puts away the rest of the food—what was transmuted will eventually turn back into whatever it was before he transmuted it—and then looks around the room. It’s a quarter past one, and for once he wants to do more than just lounge around reading more shitty tabloids.

He ends up touching up his lipstick, taking the Umbrastaff, and going for a walk so other people can admire his makeup skills. He remembers vaguely that he was supposed to go to training, as ordered by the Director, but he decides that’s Future Taako’s problem. Current Taako wants to take a walk and enjoy the sun and does most certainly _not_ want to spar until he’s so tired Magnus needs to carry him back to the suite. Again. For the third time this week.

“Y’know, I deserve to play hooky today,” he says to no one in particular (the quad was empty). “It’s only Wednesday and I’ve been working my ass off. I deserve a day off!” He walks a little more and muses, “Oh dang, that’s probably where Merle and Magnus went, huh.” He snorts. “Suckers. Not my problem.”

He glances around the empty quad and pauses when he actually sees someone. Angus, he thinks, sitting with his back against a tree, his little fancy hat off and on the ground next to him as he reads a book.

Taako grins and moseys his way over, being as quiet as he can until he’s right behind Angus, then loudly says, “Hey Angus, what’cha reading, nerd?”

Angus lets out a small “Yeep!” and falls over sideways, book falling to the ground. Even looking at the back cover Taako can tell it’s one of his Collin California books, or whatever. Once Angus gets over himself, he says, “Oh, hello, sir! You sure did goof me good, didn’t you?” He gives a laugh that sounds a little nervous before continuing, “Um, aren’t you supposed to be training?”

“Training shmaining, you wanna learn some magic today or what?”

Angus perks up a bit, but smiles a little slyly. “Is this a bribe so I don’t tell the Director that you’re playing hooky, sir?”

Taako raised his eyebrows and sighed. “I mean if you don’t _want_ to learn magic today, you coulda just said so. See ya, Ango.” He turns to leave and feels smug when he hears Angus scramble to his feet.

“Okay, okay! I want to learn! Please don’t go, sir!”

“Excellent,” Taako says, turning back around. “Sit back down, here is as good as any place to learn.” He sits down himself, legs crossed, and leans back on his hands. The grass is soft, and a breeze passes by. “Remind me, what did we do last time?” Taako asks.

Angus sits down on the grass across from him, legs folding under him and book in his lap. “We were doing Mage Hand, sir.”

Taako rolls his eyes. “ _Ugh_ , still? Alright, alright, have you practiced?”

Angus takes his wand out, smiling brightly. “Every day!”

“Sheesh, every day? What are you, a try-hard?” Taako says and Angus seems to deflate a little. “Okay, never mind. Show me what you got,” Taako continues, and Angus sits straight again, holding his wand out, waving it and saying the spell. His face is scrunched in concentration, and before him appears a shimmering hand.

Taako gives a golf-clap. “Not bad,” he says, leaning in to inspect it closer. He takes off one of his many bangles and holds it up. “Make it hold this,” he says, and Angus’s lower lip sticks out a bit as he focuses some more, and Taako does not at all regret telling this child that Mage Hand was a concentration spell (it isn’t). Angus’s Hand takes the bangle with ease and Taako grins, then holds his hand out. “Okay, now tell it to put it back on me.”

Angus does so, and Taako tells him to do a couple more things before the minute is up and the Hand vanishes. Angus pushes his glasses back up his nose. “How did I do, sir?” he asks.

“Not bad,” Taako says again, nodding. Then, because he’s feeling nice, “I say a solid eight out of ten, keep working on it.”

Angus’s face brightens. “Thanks, sir! That means a lot from you!”

“Sure, kid.” Taako thinks a little. “Hm. What to teach you next…” He takes out his spell book, flipping through it. “Uh, how does Magic Missile sound?”

Angus frowns a little. “Sir, that’s not a cantrip.”

Taako raises his eyebrows. “Well I mean, if you _want_ to stay with the baby-level-zero spells, why didn’t you say so?” He flips back with a theatric sigh.

“Oh, no, that’s not what I meant at all!” Angus says, frantically backtracking. “I only mean, do you think I’m ready for more advanced spells?”

Taako shrugs. “You already know, what, Mage Hand, Prestidigitation, and Fire Bolt?”

Angus frowns. “You… never actually taught me Fire Bolt, sir.”

“I didn’t?” Taako thinks to himself and remembers; right, he was going to, but then that _thing_ with the cookies happened, so they never got around to it, and besides, the Director seemed to freak out after that whole thing with the Umbrastaff, and… “Huh, I guess not. Well, it’s up to you, kiddo. Magic Missile, or Fire Bolt?”

Angus is quiet for a moment as he considers. Then, he says, “Can we do Fire Bolt after Magic Missile?”

Taako shrugs. “If you like. Alright, so, Magic Missile. First of all, it’s got the same components as Mage Hand, meaning you don’t need anything other than your wand. It’s an instantaneous spell though, so we’ll aim it off the side of the base. It’s got a range of about a hundred feet, too, so don’t worry about it hitting people on the ground.”

Taako explains the logistics of the spell as Angus takes out the little notebook and pen he carries everywhere, taking avid notes as Taako lectures. Then, they move to the side of the base, and Angus tries the spell.

Not a lot happens at first. Taako demonstrates a couple of times, adjusting Angus’s grip on his wand, correcting Angus’s movements and the pronunciation of the spell. “It’s _Oh-sah_ , not _oSIR_. You’re not calling out for me, right?”

Angus giggles a little. “No, sir.”

“Exactly. But if that’s how you’re gonna remember it, then remember it’s like saying ‘oh sir,’ but with a southern drawl.”

Angus frowns. “What part of the south?”

Taako waves a hand. “Y’know,” he says vaguely. “Now, try it again.”

* * *

 

It takes an hour for Angus to get three missiles to shoot from his wand. Taako is impressed, but doesn’t say so, instead telling Angus, “It could use some work, but if you want to get a start in on Fire Bolt, we can break for a snack and come back.”

Angus grins, eyes bright with excitement. “Really?”

“Sure, why not? You’re a try-hard, so I may as well give you a little more to work with,” Taako says. He starts automatically walking towards the cafeteria before shaking himself out of it. “Hey, what do you want for snack? I feel like makin’ stuff.”

Angus gives him a surprised look. “I thought you didn’t like cooking,” he says, tilting his head to the side a little.

“Yeah, well, I changed my mind, okay? Don’t ask dumb questions,” Taako says, but Angus only gives him a curious look. “Hey, if you don’t say what you want, I’ll just end up serving you dirt. Do you want to eat dirt? Because that’s what Merle eats, and I know you don’t wanna be like Merle. No one wants to be like Merle, trust me, except for, like, Merle. But that’s because he’s weird.”

Angus giggles. “No, he doesn’t.”

“He does!” Taako says. “He eats dirt! Like an absolute _monster_ , I swear, watch him close at meal-times, he’s like a goddamn Connoisseur of fucking Dirt! He carries it around in a paper bag.”

Angus continues to giggle all the way to the suite, and Taako does certainly _not_ think it’s endearing. He makes sandwiches for both of them and they go back to the quad for Fire Bolt, Taako bringing along a bag of nail polish. Taako convinces Angus that this is also a concentration spell, simply to see Angus’s face scrunch up. It’s not cute, Taako thinks as he paints his nails yellow, just hilarious.

After another hour or so, Taako checks the time. It’s almost four o’clock, and he’s sure Magnus at least will have noticed by now that he’s not at training. “And knowing Magnus,” Taako mutters to himself, “He’ll probably check to see if I’m, like, asleep or something.”

“Huh?” Angus says, turning. “Did you say something, sir?”

“What? Nothing,” Taako says. “But I’m done for today, so scram.”

“Alright,” Angus says. “Thanks for teaching me today! I had a lot of fun, and I’m glad that you seem to be in a good mood!”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get used to it,” Taako says, and starts wandering off.

“Goodbye, sir!” Angus calls and Taako lifts a hand, not turning back to look at Angus. The quad is still relatively quiet, and Taako makes his way towards the library. He wants to make dinner, but there’s still time before he starts in on that, and it has been a long time since he’s read a cookbook for inspiration.

The section on cooking in the Bureau’s library isn’t what Taako would call _adequate_ , but there’s a thick cookbook he doesn’t recognize, so he pulls it out and finds a cozy chair. He curls up into it and opens the book, running a finger over the table of contents. It’s a nice, all-kinds-of-meals book, and he starts flipping through it. Most of the recipes are a little lackluster and could use some help—the only spices the author seems to know about is pepper and salt—but it’s a nice source of entertainment. He spends a couple of hours pouring over it without meaning to before looking up and, shit, it’s six o’clock and he hasn’t started thinking about what he actually wants to cook for dinner.

He takes the cookbook with him and goes back to the suite, deciding on a recipe he knows like the back of his hand. He makes linguini from scratch. He doesn’t have the proper tool to cut it, but then, neither did his aunt; he uses Mage Hand to wield a knife, cutting the flattened dough into perfect strips. He puts it into a pot to boil, then starts in on a sauce.

Were he smarter, he would have started making tomato sauce that morning, since it takes all day to cook properly. But alas, he was not, and so Taako starts making a pesto sauce instead, gathering the ingredients. He pauses when he sees the garlic in the fridge, his mouth going a little dry. He takes out the bulb and stares at it for a moment. “Only six cloves,” he says aloud. “We triple the recipe to make enough for everyone, right? Six cups basil, two cups oil, one and a half cups cheese, three-fourth cups of pine nuts, six cloves of garlic. We can do that right?”

The empty kitchen does not reply, and Taako places the garlic on the counter. He gets out some generic oil to turn into olive oil, took out some almonds to turn into pine nuts, and pauses before rifling through their fridge. They don’t have any fresh herbs—why would they? It’s been years since Taako cooked a full meal without having a nervous breakdown halfway through; keeping fresh herbs is a waste—but he looks in the pantry to find it fully stocked with spices. He takes a container of bay leaves and transmutes them into fresh basil. He doesn’t have enough, so he takes the rest of the spices and transmutes them as well. It’s just under what he would consider enough, but it will have to do.

He roasts the pine nuts first, then tosses them into a blender, turning them into a paste. Then comes the oil, the cheese, and the basil. He pauses a moment with the garlic. Taking a deep breath, he uses his palms to peel and crush them, then tosses each clove into the blender. If he pauses between each clove, and if he’s completely shaking by the end of it, well, there’s no one in the kitchen to see.

As the pesto blends, he picks up the Umbrastaff, casting Mage Hand again to strain the linguini. He puts it back into the pot then, and adds the pesto, using a large spoon to gently mix it into the linguini.

Taako takes the no-sodium salt shaker, and just in case, quickly shakes it over the food. It does nothing and he sighs a little with relief, putting it away. He takes out a bowl, serves himself some food, and then goes into the living area, flopping down on the sofa as he eats. When he finishes his bowl, he puts it down on the sofa’s arm rest and goes into his room to take off his makeup and put on some pajamas.

When he’s done changing, he eats another bowl, then grabs the library’s cookbook and a pencil to make edits to the recipes. He starts by scanning a recipe over, crossing things out or adding things in with the pencil as he goes, lying on the sofa on his stomach. He gets up to grab a glass of water at some point, and by the time he gets through the first section of the cookbook, he feels his eyelids drooping. Before he falls completely asleep though, he flips to a blank page of the book—he can’t remember what they’re called, but he’s sure they have a name, and whoever told him that name would probably screech at him—and rips it out, writing a note out in his loopy handwriting.

_Hey losers, I made food, help yourselves or put it away -Taako_

He uses Mage Hand to place the paper on the kitchen table and then goes back to his book, folding down the corners of the recipes he eventually wants to try making. Eventually, he lays his head down in his arms, resting on top of the still-open book to rest his eyes a moment. In this moment, he hears the door open, and Merle and Magnus walk in.

“Oh, _there_ he is,” he hears Merle grumble. “I told you he was probably fine.”

Magnus hushes him and whispers, badly, “Merle, look, he made _food_.”

“Huh? Oh, neat. Should we wake him up?”

“Nah,” Magnus says, and Taako can hear him tip-toeing around the kitchen, quietly taking out bowls as Merle loudly takes out utensils. Magnus hushes him again, and Taako opens a single eye, shifting his head just enough so he can see Magnus and Merle sitting at the table. There’s silence for a bit.

“Shit,” Magnus says after a moment. He sounds impressed, and Taako grins.

“Yeah, no shit,” Merle replies. “He really knows how to cook.”

“Did you know he could cook like this? This is awesome.”

Merle is quiet for another moment. “I dunno,” he says. “Doesn’t seem out of place, somehow.”

“He made those cookies for Candlenights, didn’t he?” Magnus says.

“Oh yeah,” Merle says. “Yeah, those were pretty good.” He chuckles. “Didn’t the Director call them ‘baller’?”

Magnus laughs and then there’s silence again as they continue eating.

Taako closes his eye again. He would normally get up and say something theatrical, but inside he felt warm and fuzzy. It was weird, but it felt weirdly nice. Good. He felt good, until a thought occurred to him and his eyes shot open and he shrieked, “Are you eating that _cold_ you absolute monsters? Do you not know how to use a fucking microwave?”

Magnus and Merle both jumped about a mile into the air and Taako got up from the sofa, snatching the bowls from their hands. “I put all this effort into making dinner and you have to eat it _cold_ and not _warm_ like it was meant to be eaten? What sort of people are you? Do I need to teach you how to use a microwave? Do you not want to eat something warm? And you know what, it’s not even cold, it’s room temperature. That’s worse! That’s gross! Why don’t you just add dirt to it and absolutely ruin it, hm?”

Taako continued all through putting more linguini into the bowls, putting them in the microwave, and then taking them out and bringing them back to the table. It hadn’t even taken him that long to make, all things considered, but it was the principle of the matter.

“…And I swear to Pan if you leave the rest of it out to mold after all the hard work I put into it, I will Magic Missile your asses so hard, your _grandparents_ will feel it in the Astral-fucking-Plane. I didn’t make linguini from scratch just so it could go bad by morning! Got it?”

Magnus had already started eating again, and when Taako finished his rant, he and Merle look at one another. Then, Merle slowly starts taking a familiar brown paper bag out of his pocket.

“ _Don’t you_ fucking _dare add that, Highchurch_! Truly! If you add dirt to this, I will personally dropkick you so goddamn hard _Pan_ won’t be able to find you in the atmosphere!”

Magnus snorts, chokes, and coughs for a solid minute, still laughing. Taako throws his hands up and starts to storm off towards his room before Magnus, voice hoarse from choking, calls, “Hey, Taako!”

“What?” Taako snaps, turning. Magnus puts down his bowl and jogs over to Taako, hugging him so hard, he picked Taako off the ground.

“Son of a- How are you this sweaty? Get off of me you moron, you’re still not out of the clear of getting Abraca-fucked!”

“Thanks for the food, buddy,” Magnus says, putting him down, and Taako goes quiet for a minute before huffing, crossing his arms.

“You could’a told me that from over there. And thus, y’know, not getting your gross all over me? You’re disgusting, Burnsides. An absolute disgrace.”

Taako went into his room and shut the door. For a moment, he simply leans his back against the door. As much as he wants to be, he can’t bring himself to actually be mad, or even all that frustrated. Mostly, he finds he’s amused, but now that he’s stormed in here, he can’t just walk back out there.

Well, he can’t until he realizes he left the Umbrastaff and his cookbook out there. He leaves his room and, ignoring Merle and Magnus’s snickers as he walks out again, he grabs his book and his staff. Then, he turning to them, he says, “Goodnight!” and walks directly back into his room.

He hears Magnus and Merle lose their collective shit after he’s shut the door and calls, “I can still hear you, assholes!” but even though they can’t see it, Taako’s grinning. Rolling his eyes, he flops down on his bed, leaning the Umbrastaff against his bedside. “Jerks,” he says, but he’s still grinning, and it comes out more fond than he really wants. He lies on his bed with his eyes closed as he thinks about the day. Tomorrow, he knows, the heaviness is likely to return to him, and the buzzing in his head too. He will have to go to training with Magnus and Merle, and Killian will probably mop the floor with him, as per usual.

But tonight, he listens as Merle and Magnus argue over who’s going to put the pasta away and who’s going to do the dishes. Soon, he will hear them each take turns singing badly in the shower. After that, he will be asleep, dreaming about his wonderful magic boy, cooking with his aunt, and another woman he won’t remember in the morning.

For now, as Taako smiles easily for the first time in what feels like forever, and he says aloud to himself, “Today was… pretty good. Huh.”

For now, as he settles into a light meditation, it is enough. And when he remembers how Magnus and Merle both jumped out of their skins when he started yelling, Taako laughs.

**Author's Note:**

> All kudos and comments are appreciated!


End file.
